George Brett looks back at 'Pine Tar Game'

Brett looks back at 'Pine Tar Game'

11:45 PM,
Jul. 9, 2013

Written by

George Brett bolted out of the Royals' dugout at Yankee Stadium and toward home plate, his face filled with rage.

"If they call me out for using too much pine tar, I'll run out there and kill one of those SOBs," Brett had just said to teammate Frank White about the umpires.

Sure enough, plate umpire Tim McClelland had called Brett out for using an illegal bat, negating his two-out, two-run homer off Goose Gossage in the ninth for a 5-4 lead over the Yankees. They had suspected there was too much pine tar running up his bat, and indeed there was. McClelland measured it against the 17-inch plate. ...